First A.I. - Now Polanco

This Thursday marks the return of a great former Philadelphia athlete. A man who is beloved in this town, and gives everything he has every time he goes out and plays.

I’m talking about Placido Polanco of course. The Phillies signed Polanco today to a 3 year deal worth $18 million, pending a physical. Polanco will be brought in to play 3rd base for the Phillies, a position he hasn’t played in year. If you remember Polanco’s first go-round with the team, we were told that Polanco could not play 3rd base. It made sense for Polanco to move to 3rd at that time, as you had your best young player, Utley, taking Polanco’s spot at 2nd. However, Polanco was still 100 times better than David Bell, the starting 3rd baseman at that time, but we were told Polanco could not play 3rd, and were forced to sit through a platoon situation at 2nd base for the beginning of the season.

Personally, I would have rather brought in Adrian Beltre to play 3rd, but I am alright with this signing. Polanco is a great contact hitter, and has always been good at the plate. He hardly every strikes out, and usually bats around .300. It's the defense that is more the concern however. Polanco is 34 now, and I would assume doesn’t have great range at this point in his career at 3rd base. And since he has been playing 2nd base the past few seasons with the Tigers, we will see how much of an adjustment he will have to make.

However, Polanco is a good player, bottom line, and a good addition to the team. Hopefully this will put some pressure on Rollins and Victorino at the top of the order to produce a little more, and be smarter at the plate. If you have Rollins or Victorino struggling, Polanco can definitely come in and bat at the top of the order, especially the 2 hole.

First Allen Iverson, now Placido Polanco... maybe with all the Eagles wide receivers banged up, we should look at bringing back T.O.